Progressive State Constitutionalism

Unlike the U.S. Constitution, many state constitutions are truly modern documents that address important social, economic, and political issues from a progressive perspective. This is due to the combination of several key features, including: socially oriented historical circumstances; democratic creation processes; significant substantive content guided by ideas of social justice; and adequate judicial enforcement that takes into account these crucial normative elements. As a result, these progressive state constitutions can become powerful allies in the search for a transformative constitutionalism in the United States that facilitates the goals of social justice and collective prosperity. The constitutional processes in California (1880), New York (1938), Puerto Rico (1952), and Illinois (1970) are prime examples of this type of progressive constitutionalism. Their particular creation histories and the constitutional content they produced represent a sharp break from the experiences at the federal level. Specifically, they show that there is an available alternative route in order to achieve progressive results in the constitutional realm. Moreover, they can serve as blueprints for the eventual substitution of the U.S. Constitution with a document truly written by ‘We the People’ that, in turn, addresses the enormous social, economic, political, and environmental challenges facing the United States today

Decolonizing Legal Influence: China\u27s Role in the Changing Landscape of the Ethiopian Legal Profession, 2000-2018

Over the last two decades, the legal profession in Ethiopia has changed fundamentally. The government has increased the number of law schools from one in 1993 to more than three dozen by 2021. It has introduced strict licensure rules to formalize and regulate legal services and, more recently, in 2022, it has proclaimed the creation of law firms and an independent bar association. The market for legal services has expanded, allowing lawyers to reach out to clients in the country’s peripheries and move onward to attract global clients. These changes are inextricably tied to global currents that have diffused Anglo-American influence on law and the legal professions across the world. In this paper, I consider China’s influence in Ethiopia’s fast- changing socio-legal landscape. While there is no doubt that Chinese finance and investment over the last two decades have shaped Ethiopia\u27s infrastructure and manufacturing industries, commentators often say that China has neither the intention nor the capability to influence law and the legal profession. Nonetheless, this paper shows that a combined effect of the Ethiopian officials seeking Chinese capital and Chinese entrepreneurs seeking cheap land and labor through local law and lawyers has profoundly changed the profession. The economic nature of this change raises questions about our understanding of foreign influence in terms of colonial experience, which is characterized by a seemingly unified approach, or theory and intentionality by a Western government, to analyze Chinese influence in African law and legal profession

Breast Ironing: Analyzing the Rights of the Girl-Child in the Context of Cameroon’s Obligation Under International Human Rights Law

Among the various forms of sexual violence perpetrated against the girl-child, breast ironing remains largely obscured due to its underreporting. Yet thousands of girls, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa where it is most prevalent, continue to suffer in silence. These girls are not just exposed to the immediate violence of this act, but they also carry the scar of this human rights violation for life. With the scholarly focus on the practice rather scant, the necessary legal response has also been checkmated. The goal of this article is to bring international focus to this problem by examining the practice in the context of Cameroon, where it is most endemic. It highlights the impact of the practice on the life and rights of the girl-child and examines the extent to which the lack of legislation against this practice has allowed it to flourish. The Article concludes by prescribing a series of recommendations, which should shape states’ responses going forward

From Scanner to Court: A Neuroscientifically Informed “Reasonable Person” Test of Trademark Infringement

Many legal decisions center on the thoughts or perceptions of some idealized group of individuals, referred to variously as the “average person,” “the typical consumer,” or the “reasonable person.” Substantial concerns exist, however, regarding the subjectivity and vulnerability to biases inherent in conventional means of assessing such responses, particularly the use of self-report evidence. Here, we addressed these concerns by complementing self-report evidence with neural data to inform the mental representations in question. Using an example from intellectual property law, we demonstrate that it is possible to construct a parsimonious neural index of visual similarity that can inform the reasonable person test of trademark infringement. Moreover, when aggregated across multiple participants, this index was able to detect experimenter-induced biases in self-report surveys in a sensitive and replicable fashion. Together, these findings potentially broaden the possibilities for neuroscientific data to inform legal decision-making across a range of settings

Legal Writing Handbook for Clinical Students

This handbook is for upper-level students enrolled in a clinic, who are expected to draft legal memorandums, briefs, client letters, and pleadings with minimal supervision. Each chapter focuses on a single writing skill. The exercises and examples consistently and cogently employ the techniques and devices advocated in the book. Clinical students learn by doing. Still, their legal writing experience is limited, so guiding them through written assignments is challenging. They simultaneously need specific feedback on legal writing from their professors, and the opportunity to do as much as possible on their own. I wrote this handbook with that challenge in mind. Students can use the book as a tool to help them complete writing assignments without relying too much on their professor. Clinical professors can use the handbook in three separate ways, depending on their students’ needs. 1. Require or ask students to use the handbook when they write assignments. 2. Assign students to read and complete the exercises in a single chapter or chapters based on weaknesses professors find in their students’ writing. 3. Assign chapters and exercises to prepare for in class review of basic writing skills. Students would read and complete some of the exercises in a chapter before attending class on a particular topic, where they would discuss the topic and practice that skill in class by completing as a group the remaining exercises. Such a class could also include peer editing of written clinic assignments. The ebook includes numerous interactive questions, such as multiple choice, that allow students to assess their understanding and skills.https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/books/1211/thumbnail.jp

Addressing Root Causes: The Need for Ex-Ante Regulation in Business and Human Rights

With the rise of mandatory human rights due diligence (HRDD) laws across various jurisdictions, governments are turning to regulatory tools to tackle the transnational challenges of business and human rights. Yet, the dominant focus on an ex-post standard such as mandatory HRDD may not adequately address the root causes of rights abuses in commercial activities. The individualized ex-post enforcement model which underpins HRDD has limited potential to address the systemic infrastructure of exploitative business practices. The upstream purchasing and contracting practices which lead to human rights violations in supply chains are overlooked, and even reinforced, in such a model. Without dispelling the importance of HRDD in charting a path of progress and corporate accountability, this Article critically evaluates its weaknesses in light of the risk that the status quo of exploitative business models may be preserved even as due diligence laws are ushered forward. To counter this ex-post tendency, this Article examines whether proactive ex-ante mechanisms can fill the gaps where HRDD has fissured and cracked. From both a normative perspective and by drawing upon existing debates between ex-ante and ex-post enforcement (or rules versus standards), this Article makes the case for lawmakers to embrace a smart mix of both and presents some options for implementation. The aim is not to pause the current impetus in legislative efforts—instead, it is to capture this momentum and highlight avenues through which domestic policymakers can take a prophylactic approach for prevention, accountability and remedy in business and human rights